1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an electro-photographic type image forming apparatus, and also related to a process cartridge employed in this image forming apparatus, and a recycling method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this sort of image forming apparatus, such an image forming apparatus is known in which while a recording medium is transported along a substantially vertical direction, an image is formed on this transported recording medium, and then, the recording medium on which the image has been formed is ejected to an ejection unit provided on an upper portion of a main body of this image forming apparatus as disclosed in JP-A-10-207160. Also, as a process cartridge employed in this sort of image forming apparatus, such a compact process cartridge has been realized by positioning a developing portion, an exposing portion, and a cleaning portion on the same side with respect to a vertical plane which intersects a rotation center of an image carrier as disclosed in JP-B-6-12475.
However, since the developer storage unit is arranged under the exposing unit in the conventional known image forming apparatus, in such a case that the storage capacity of the developer storage unit is wanted to be increased, increasing of this storage capacity of the developer storage unit may easily give an adverse influence to, for example, the position of the paper supply unit and the position of the optical writing apparatus, which are arranged under the conventional image forming apparatus. The technical specifications are variously changed in connection with changes in the developer storage capacities. Thus, there are such problems that the structural components of the conventional image forming apparatus can be hardly and commonly used, and furthermore, the entire dimension of the image forming apparatus is increased when the storage capacity of the developer storage unit is increased.
An object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems, and therefore, to provide an image forming apparatus and a process cartridge, which can minimize changes in other structural components even when a developer storage capacity is changed, and also can be made compact.
To achieve an object, a first feature of the present invention is such an image forming apparatus includes an image forming section having an image carrier, and an ejection unit from which a recording medium where an image has been formed by the image forming section is ejected, in which a first developer storage unit is provided under a horizontal line which is extended from a latent image writing position of the image carrier where a latent image is written along a substantially horizontal direction, and a developer-storing space for arranging a second developer storage unit is provided above the horizontal line extended from the latent image writing position of the image carrier and between the horizontal line and the ejection unit. As a consequence, since the developer storage unit space used to arrange the second developer storage unit is provided at a lower portion of the ejection unit which may readily produce a dead space, the storage capacity of the developer storage unit can be easily increased, and moreover, the image forming apparatus is not made bulky.
A second feature of the present invention is such an image forming apparatus includes an image forming section having an image carrier, and an ejection unit from which a recording medium where an image has been formed by the image forming section is ejected, in which a first developer storage unit is provided under a horizontal line which is extended from a latent image writing position of the image carrier where a latent image is written along a substantially horizontal direction, and a developer-storing housing unit for forming a second developer storage unit is provided above the horizontal line extended from the latent image writing position of the image carrier and between the horizontal line and the ejection unit. As a consequence, in such a case that the developer storage capacity of the first developer storage unit can be satisfied, only the developer-storing housing unit is left without constructing of the second developer storage unit. In such a case that the developer storage capacity is wanted to be increased due to a post specification change, the second developer storage unit may be arranged by mounting the necessary structural components such as the stirring/transporting members on the developer-storing housing unit. In this case, a stirring/transporting member hole for stirring/transporting a stirring/transporting member which stirs/transports the developer stored in the second developer storage unit may be previously and preferably formed in the developer-storing housing unit.
A third feature of the present invention is such an image forming apparatus includes an image forming section having an image carrier, and an ejection unit from which a recording medium where an image has been formed by the image forming section is ejected, in which the image forming section includes a first developer storage unit provided under a horizontal line which is extended from a latent image writing position of the image carrier where a latent image is written along a substantially horizontal direction, and a second developer storage unit provided above the horizontal line extended from the latent image writing position of the image carrier and between the horizontal line and the ejection unit, and the second developer storage unit is detachably mounted. As a result, in the case that the developer storage capacity of the first developer storage unit can be satisfied, the second developer storage unit may be merely dismounted. In such a case that the developer storage capacity is wanted to be increased due to a post specification change, the second developer storage unit may be mounted.
In this case, preferably, the developer storage capacity of the second developer storage unit is made larger than that of the first developer storage unit. Since the second developer storage unit is arranged at a lower portion of the ejection unit which may readily constitute a dead space, this dead space portion can be effectively utilized.
Also, the image forming section may preferably include the image carrier, the first developer storage unit, and the second developer, and may be preferably comprised of a process cartridge having a developing unit for developing a latent image of the image carrier so as to produce a visible image.
Also, while the process cartridge includes storage section for storing such a fact as to whether or not the second developer storage unit is present, a history of the process cartridge may be preferably left in this storage section.
The process cartridge may includes a first cartridge unit in which the first developer storage unit is provided, and a second cartridge unit in which the second developer storage unit is provided, and a second cartridge unit in which the second developer storage unit is provided, and the second cartridge unit may be detachably provided with respect to the first cartridge unit. Alternatively, the process cartridge may includes a first cartridge unit in which the first developer storage unit is provided, a second cartridge unit in which the second developer storage unit is provided, and a third cartridge unit in which the image carrier is provided, and the first cartridge unit, the second cartridge unit, and the third cartridge unit may be detachably mounted with respect to the respective cartridge units.
Furthermore, the present invention may cover a process cartridge employed in the image forming apparatus, and also, may cover both a method for recycling this process cartridge, and a method for manufacturing this process cartridge.